Can “Mental Hygiene”extend your life span? The average lifespan for men living in the Europe is around seventy two years and around eighty years for women. How could hypnosis help to extend this and improve our quality of life? Historians think that the average life expectancy for humans in the middle ages was around 35 years. This rose to around 50 years in the 1900’s and 1970 we were expected to live around 69 years. These improvements to life span were brought about to a large degree by improved hygiene. Medical historians tell us that the reduction in infant and maternity death rates and the decline of infectious diseases resulted from reforms that improved our living conditions. We no longer live our lives surrounded by rubbish and raw sewerage! Access to clean water, improved sanitation, better nutrition and housing conditions along with improvements in medical care have all helped to extend our time on this planet. How do we continue this trend? The number one killer in the western world is heart disease, followed by a host of other chronic illnesses. Medicine’s approach to these diseases is to treat the symptoms of these diseases instead of treating the causes of these diseases. Medicine does know what the cause of these diseases is and has for a long time. It’s just that medicine is unable to provide adequate solutions to dealing with the causes. Medicine cannot change harmful information in your mind. For this “mental hygiene” is needed. Anyone that’s studied medicine will probably tell you that most of the chronic illnesses we suffer today are caused by stress. The big antidote to stress is relaxation and unfortunately in the western world we aren’t taught how to relax. Instead we’re given caffeine! If we were taught to relax and purge the damaging thoughts that lead to chronic illness from our minds, would it extend our lifespan? Not surprisingly, the answer seems to be yes. The American Journal of Cardiology reported a twenty three (23) percent reduction in death rates and an improvement in life span using Transcendental Meditation. The study found that compared to combined controls, the TM group showed:

23% reduction in the rate of death from all causes

30% reduction in the rate of death from cardiovascular disease

49% reduction in the rate of death from cancer

Read more here: http://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/5898/transcendental-meditation-extends-lifespan As a hypnotherapist I have known of the value of meditation for a long time. I sought out the services of a very experienced meditation teacher and I’ve enjoyed regular meditation for years. It’s a practice that I highly recommend because it gives pleasure and improves the quality of life. It’s a pity that most of my clients roll their eyes when I mention meditation! Most people are too busy to meditate for twenty minutes, twice a day. It takes time to practice meditation until you receive the benefits too. This is a great pity as I consider meditation a new form of hygiene that is eventually going to revolutionise health care that I call mental hygiene. For this reason most westerners need to find a faster method for releasing all the harmful thoughts they harbour that eventually spill over into the body in the form of chronic illness. Hypnosis is the obvious choice for most busy, caffeine gulping, career chasing westerners. Hypnosis is fast and easy and unlike meditation, can be directed. It’s eventually going to revolutionise health care and the way we approach chronic illness. I predict that children will learn self hypnosis (self mental hygiene) at school and eventually be able to flush harmful information from their subconscious minds the same way we flush a loo. This might thought of as improved sanitation for the mind. I also predict that this mental hygiene will lead to a further extension of our life spans and quality of life. Hypnosis is already making inroads into the mainstream treatment of illness as this article in The New York Times illustrates: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/health/16patient.html?_r=4&emc=eta1&

Obviously Simon Cowell knows a thing or two about success. He hired a hypnotherapist to help Tamera Foster remember her lines while singing. I didn't know she kept forgetting her lines, but why would someone do such a thing? Well, nerves of course. When we're scared we go into "fight, flight (or freeze) mode. It's a natural thing to do and if you're physically threatened it's a good response. But it's not helpful when you're on stage in front of the world!

How does hypnotherapy help? By removing the fear. Once the fear of performing has been removed, there's no need to freeze up and get mental blocks. This allows the performer to really get into the routine and enjoy it! To come from the heart!

Disclaimer: The success of hypnotherapy depends greatly on the client's ability to follow instructions and a personal desire for change. As such, hypnotherapy results vary and Oxford Hypnotherapy Clinic cannot offer any guarantee of success. If you do not want to change, for yourself, you are advised to seek help through other avenues.